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The pittsburgh pirates have the worst farm system. They do not have a good minor league affiliates and farmhands that help develop major league potential talent. There was an article on all of the pirates' faults on ESPN, but the article is about a couple months old.

Houston's is far worse IMO.

My blog- analysis of the San Francisco Giants, Baseball, and Sabermetrics.

Well that goes against pretty much everyone in the prospecting community with Texas and Oak at 1 and 2 and SF,TB and Atl fighting it out for 3 - 5.

Boston has had just to much attrition over the last few years now. The loss rookie eligibility of Lowrie, Masterson, Bucholz, Ellsbury and Pedoria the last 2 season has pretty much killed the Red Sox chance of a top 10 ranking.

Anderson and Bowden are the 2 top end guys that are still eligible. The rest are to far out to really push the system above the likes of ATL or SF or even into the top 10.

Posey and Villanova from SF are both players that grade out as high as Lars. Bumgarner and Aldersonfrom SF both grade out higher than Bowden. Hanson and Heyward from Atl both grade out above Lars and Bowden as well at this point. I like the Bos system but, not enough guys that are high end that are in the upper minors.

To add to it, am not sure Lars is the best 1B now in the minors now His .435 BABIP driven .316 BA scares me a bit. He might not grade out higher than Smoak from Texas. Bowden, even though I like him, is what he is, a #3 starter as a ceiling.

Don't worry, the Bos system is on its way back up, but no way is it higher than SF or Atl. Hard to even place them in the top 10 at this point. But your still above the NYY...

Anderson and Bowden are the 2 top end guys that are still eligible. The rest are to far out to really push the system above the likes of ATL or SF or even into the top 10.

Posey and Villanova from SF are both players that grade out as high as Lars. Bumgarner and Aldersonfrom SF both grade out higher than Bowden. Hanson and Heyward from Atl both grade out above Lars and Bowden as well at this point. I like the Bos system but, not enough guys that are high end that are in the upper minors.

To add to it, am not sure Lars is the best 1B now in the minors now His .435 BABIP driven .316 BA scares me a bit. He might not grade out higher than Smoak from Texas. Bowden, even though I like him, is what he is, a #3 starter as a ceiling.

Don't worry, the Bos system is on its way back up, but no way is it higher than SF or Atl. Hard to even place them in the top 10 at this point. But your still above the NYY...

I agree that the Sox system isn't where it was at this time last year, but I think they've still got enough talent to be top 10. They're not as top heavy as they were, but they had a top 5 draft, added tons of talent and have logjams at almost every position from Lancaster/Salem down.

5th best draft, behind Rangers, Royals, Giants and Twins according to BA does not make up for the fact that your #2 system lost its #1,2,4 and 5 prospects and that most of the talent is going to be based in the low minors. No one in the current Sox draft will make the top 50. Very few recently drafted players ever do, with most being top 5 picks or top 5 talent that slipped due to sign ability. The Sox drafted neither.

The system lost the #4,#13, #64 and #73rd ranked prospects according to BA's top 100 with no one likely to make the top 15 next year.

Lars was ranked 40th last year, Bowden 94th and Kalish 96th (who might not get ranked after this season) with none having the season to jump into the top 15. It is going to take that type of top end talent to make the top 8.

The fact that the Sox have a talent rich low minors does not carry as much weight as having polished MLB ready or close to MLB ready players.

The Sox, Yankees, Reds and Dodgers all most likely will fall out of the top 10 with SF and Balt for sure going in and the Cardinals (Rasmus will be a top 15 if not better prospect again) Fl, Minn, Was and KC all fighting with the Sox and Dodgers for the bottom rungs of the top 10.

Texas, Oak, SF, Atl, Balt and TB are a fairly good guess at the top 6 in some order.

7-10 leaves you the Rox with Fowler being a most likely top 20 guy, Cardinals with Rasmus being a top 15 guy, Minn, KC, LAD and Was being fairly deep but no great top 30 talent right now, Bos with Lars a likely top 30 guy, and FL with Maybin being a top 10 guy.

Got to pick 3? FL has star power and depth, Cardinals the same. So do you choose the Sox system over Minn or KC or Min or LAD?

Once again, this isn't a slight against the Red Sox system, its just the standard attrition of top prospects to the MLB level. I fully expect the Red Sox system to be back in the top 20 for the 2010 rankings (barring trades of course),but I have a hard time justifying it right now.

1 team in the top 10 last year did not have a player in the top 25, Washington (#27).
No one in the top 5 last year did not have a guy in the top 20, and at least 4 prospects in the top 88.